The streets of Mumbai have always been alive with energy—the resilience of its people has always shaped the city's pulse. Neighbourhoods hum with activity with children playing, vendors calling out and people exchanging pleasantries as they go about their busy lives. Yet, beneath this vibrant façade lies a persistent problem—garbage. In almost every corner of the city. Overflowing bins, rotting waste, and an ever-present stench make life difficult, especially for those living near open drains and naalas.
While many turn a blind eye to this problem, a group of students from New English Secondary School decided to act.
Vidisha Kamble, Arvi Jadhav, Vidhi Pawar, Arya Badade, and Druksha Kamble did not look at this problem as students; they donned their hats as problem-solvers, innovators, and change-makers. The sight of garbage spilling onto roads, clogging drains, and making their neighbourhood unlivable troubled them deeply. Their journey began with a simple yet powerful act—observation. They spoke to their own families, engaged with neighbours and gathered insights from their friends in school and other community members. The conclusion was clear: waste management in the city was inefficient, and overflowing dustbins were a significant part of the problem. It was not just affecting them on a surface level, but they realised that this was a hazard to people and animals, likely to catch a disease, if they continued to live in the proximity of garbage.
Determined to find a solution, the team set out to design a smart dustbin that could sense garbage levels and alert authorities before it became a problem. They adopted a simple design thinking process, where a five-step approach was deployed - Empathize, Ideate, Prototype, Test and Launch.
They engaged in intense brainstorming sessions, exploring a wide range of potential solutions to tackle the waste problem in their neighbourhood. Ideas flowed freely—some practical, some ambitious and some purely imaginative. They even considered fragrance masks to neutralise foul odours for people living close to garbage dumps, electric brooms that could sweep and collect garbage autonomously and swiftly and lastly, larger, high-capacity bins to accommodate more waste. They even envisioned a machine that could actively gather and dispose of scattered trash, reducing human effort. But as they went through these ideas, one concept stood out—a smart dustbin with sensors to detect waste levels and notify municipal authorities.
With the guidance of mentors and support from MuSo and Standard Chartered Bank, they refined their vision. Their bin would have separate compartments for wet and dry waste. It would be equipped with sensors to detect when it was 80% full and send an email alert to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Additionally, the bin's lid would remain shut once it reached capacity, preventing further littering.
The first prototype was promising but imperfect. A motor and button mechanism initially controlled the lid, but during testing, the team realized it was cumbersome. If the button got too dirty or malfunctioned out of wear and tear, it would not be feasible to operate. Plus, it would add to the list of responsibilities for BMC. They removed these and instead integrated a sensor-based automatic opening system. A crucial challenge was still unresolved—power. How would the sensors function reliably? The answer came in the form of solar panels. By incorporating renewable energy, their bin became not just smart but also sustainable.
The journey from concept to execution was not without hurdles. There were moments of doubt, challenges in implementation, and feedback that forced them to rethink their design. They tested their model repeatedly, tweaking and improving until they had a working solution that could be easily adopted on a larger scale.
Finally, their Bin Monitor was ready!Their work was not just about cleanliness but about responsibility, awareness, and change. And with that, the streets of Sion (and hopefully the rest of the city in due time) had new custodians—five young visionaries who dared to dream of a cleaner, smarter, and healthier world.
